


The Color of the Universe

by Lothlorienx



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original Fiction, Other, Outer Space, POV First Person, Science, Science Fiction, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 17:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5937169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothlorienx/pseuds/Lothlorienx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most scientists say the sky is blue; most people say the sky is blue. And normally they would be right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Color of the Universe

Most scientists say the sky is blue; most people say the sky is blue. And normally they would be right. On earth, to human beings, the sky is blue. If you ask someone who is color blind, they might say something else. They might say that the sky is slightly green, or maybe even that the sky is gray. Different shades of gray, depending on the weather or time of day, but definitely gray.

And then there are the times when the sky is anything but blue. Some people go around asking absurd questions (as some people call them), like what if the sky was red? What if it was pink? What if it was purple? Well, the sky is pink and red and purple. All you have to do is look at it to see so. Think of a sunset, or a sunrise, and you will know what I mean. When the sun rises, the sky isn't blue. Sometimes it's a faded yellow color, with pink clouds, and with gradient into purple then navy then black. At twilight, the sky fades into gradients like that. Black then blue then purple, all the way down until it reaches the gold of the setting sun.

But back to the color of the daytime sky itself. People say that it is blue. I say it is not. Sure, it looks blue, but that's only because of Earth's atmosphere. If the atmosphere were more filled with oxygen than nitrogen, would it still appear blue? What about helium? Ask any scientist, and they will say that different atmospheres lead to different sky colors.

Our eyes can limit the colors we see. How many color rods do humans have in their eyes? Three? I believe that is it three; I read it once long ago, back when books were close by. In libraries and schools and stores. Even gas stations used to house them, and you could pick one up with your bottle of water and bag of chips.

Three color rods. They limit how many colors humans can see. So the sky is blue in the daytime. But who knows? Maybe if humans had more color rods in their eyes, the sky wouldn't be blue. It would be a color that no one can even think of.

Try to think of a color you've never seen before.

You can't do it, can you?

Well, they are out there. Colors that you can't imagine. The rainbow is a lot more vivid when the sunlight hits the rain water, let me tell you that. Much prettier. At the very least, you can see pink in the rainbow, when the sun hits it just right. And parts of gold. But to describe it to people who can only see so many colors? I'll stop there.

The fallacy of the blue sky leads to other fallacies. For instance, I also read about humans going out into space. Launching probes and space stations, and even people who have walked on the moon. If you ask them what the color of space is, they'll say black. A deep, dark black. But in reality, it's more like nothing.

You've put a rover on Mars, yes? Let me tell you, the images sent back aren't of a blue sky, either. It looks dusty, from the pictures I've seen. But it's more than that. Go to other planets, where the atmospheres are different. Purple skies, blue skies, red skies, gold skies, green skies, orange skies. Skies in colors no human could imagine. Again, it's all dependent on the atmosphere, and the time of day. Even how close they are to orbiting a certain star.

But the color comes from outside the atmosphere. It is the darkness of space filtering in through those layers of air over the planet. The black of outer space moving through different wavelengths as it hits the eyes of all who observe it, which makes the sky appear a certain color. Red or blue or green or gold. It all comes from the same black, supposedly.

So, what color is the universe, really? Black?

I don't think so, not if it can be turned into all those colors. I suppose it would be a dark color; that much is a given. But not black, not really. If you asked me to guess, I would say it is both every color in the universe, and no color at all. Just think, every single color and then some just mingled into the void of space, and all it needs is a certain filter to make the color appear.

Yes, if I was asked I would say that.

And as for space itself? It looks black, if you peer into the horizons and search in between the stars and the planets and nebulas. But it isn't black; it's nothing. Nothingness. If it were black, you'd be able to see you're hand in front of you already start to become tinted that way. If a plane flies up into the sky, doesn't it start to fade into a blueish color after a while? This doesn't happen, at least not in what I've read in Earthling texts. So I'm going to say that it is nothing.

Nothing more than a void. Airless, breathless. Maybe it is all strings; who knows? No one I've met. Not even the scientists; they have to keep guessing and surmising and theorizing all their lives. Centuries of data printed down on paper, entered into computers, and still the mysteries of the universe are beyond any living seems it will always escape us, no matter how much work you put into it, no matter if it is a human or someone or something else doing the studying.

It will always escape us.

It seems it doesn't want us to know. The universe is a jealous thing. A very jealous thing. It is ultimate and unending and vast and hides its secrets like a witch hides her old family recipes.

The speed of light is a good example here.

Nothing can move faster than the speed of light. Earth scientists found that out a long time ago. If you were able to take humans, and make them move at the speed of light, time would slow down. Slow down immensely, to the point where one hundred years was only a week to them. If a person tried to run while moving at the speed of light, their body would slow down so much that they wouldn't be able to break the barrier.

Nothing can move faster than the speed of light.

Jealous universe. Jealous, jealous, jealous.

I'll admit, I've tried once or twice to chide it, but it only reacts like a stubborn child. A child screaming and storming, demanding that you're not their real mother and can't tell them what to do. They're old enough now, they're practically an adult, blah blah blah…

And our universe is young. Sure, it may be a few dozen billion years old and then some, but it is still a child in comparison. I've know universes billions of trillions of years old, and far vaster than our own. So this universe, where the sky is blue on Earth and space is black to astronauts, is petty.

Jealous and petty and childish.

But still, it must be nurtured all the same. Until it births a being who can see each and every color in the immensity of this realm, it will continue to grow. Grow and evolve and span. Personally, I wonder how long it will take, for the universe to birth something that can see so many colors. Some universes, who are so ancient that the fabric of space time has permanently stopped and broken for them, never developed these beings, and they only sit like a figurine on a shelf, forgotten and collecting dust. Poor things. They live in an almost vegetated state, denied a honorable death.

To which I can only shake my head at them.

I hope one day they will find peace.

Back to your own young universe. Back into the vastness and the small, tiny little lifeforms on small, tiny little planets. I won't lie, I think they're all kinda of cute, all these different lifeforms. Even the lifeforms on which people scream and run away from in fear. Even the microscopic single-celled organisms that are invisible to naked eyes. Blue skies and seasons and sunsets on Earth, red skies and mercury rain and a never-ending night on Proveda.

I really do love this universe.

I only wish it wasn't so jealous and secretive.


End file.
